Learning a bit more from Kai about the other victims, it seemed like Billy had been going through his revenge list by order of those he had lost to. Which in turn meant that Innu was next.
‘From what I remember Innu is quite the strong fighter. He might be able to handle himself in most situations, but that’s with a human as his opponent, not against a werewolf.’ Gary thought. ‘It’s also possible that he’s gotten stronger because of the moon like me, and to top that off, he’s apparently killed at least four people if we include his parents. Yeah, there’s no way Innu will survive that on his own.’
“You’re a more caring person than I thought. While that might not be the best quality for your average gang leader, for our little group it’s not exactly bad.” Kai mentioned, making Gary flinch as he had completely forgotten about his role in their little gang.
“Anyway, I think it’s for the best if you two start to hang out together. Although Billy seems to go after his victims in the order he lost against them, we have to account for the fact that you got your ‘present’ before Innu. If that’s something like his calling card, then he might be coming for you first actually. Either way, there’s safety in numbers and at least you know that he’s coming after you.”
“After your practice, give Innu a call. Let me add his number to your phone. I was going to get you two to meet up with each other more often anyway. Use that time to learn how to cooperate for the next underground fight.”
Gary was in the middle of giving his small secret phone to Kai when he realised something.
“Come again? What’s that about an underground fight?” Gary asked.
“Oh yeah, I never got a chance to tell you since someone managed to get themselves excluded yesterday. This weekend our little gang will have their gang debut and the two of you will be entering in a tag team match against Eton High.”
“Don’t worry, it’s a couple of days after that rugby match of yours. Who knows, maybe you’ll see your opponents out on the field.” Kai casually said as he headed for the door.
‘Shit, out of all things. I’ve barely had a single match, never mind with someone else. Heck, it was because of that stupid match in the first place that I ended up turning Billy!’
“Wait.” Gary called out, stopping Kai before he left. “I wanted to ask you about something.”
Kai sighed as if he knew what the question would be.
“Let me guess, you’re worried that since Billy found out where the two of you lived, then it must mean that he had somehow gotten that information, which means the Underdogs might as well. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“It’s in my own interest to prevent them from finding you. I’ve already begun looking into how he found out about you in the first place and once I do, I will make sure to make it impossible for them to do the same.”
Although Gary was worried about this, it was more so about something else. At least he knew that Billy was only attacking opponents he had lost to, so maybe his family wasn’t in any danger, but there was another problem.
“Thank you very much, but I was actually going to ask… if you could spot me some money. I used up everything I’ve earned to help my family pay off some overdue bills, but we got some new ones coming in, so I needed some more. It won’t be for long, you can just deduct it from whatever we’ll earn in that tag team match!”
Hearing these words, Kai’s hand left the handle, and a smirk appeared across his face.
“Borrowing money from a gang, now that would be quite troublesome. wouldn’t it? Although I would like to say yes, you’re not the only one who is a bit short on cash. You see, I never really accounted for having to call for the cleaners, much less having to do it twice in a row. As you can imagine it’s not exactly cheap to get them to work without asking questions and keeping it off the record.”
“I’m down to what I’ve earned by betting on you, but those are gang funds. The rest of my cash is tied in with the Underdogs, so there’s no way I can access it without someone getting suspicious. You wouldn’t want to be borrowing money from an Underdog member, now would you? That could end up being very dangerous.”
“If you need cash that badly, try Innu. Otherwise, you will just have to make do until the tag team match. I promise then you will get a big pay day, as long as you win of course.” Kai said, leaving the room before Gary could say anything else.
Gary didn’t have high hopes for Innu. They didn’t really know each other, so why should he give him his money? Gary was the gang leader in name only and they both knew that. Since there wasn’t much for him to do, the high schooler simply decided to stay in the small storage room with his thoughts until lunch was over so no one could see him.
In the end, he hadn’t figured out anything at all. He had pondered over going back to the woods, but then he would just have to get back to school, which seemed like a waste of time, and probably Energy. As such, Gary decided to just wait out the last two hours before club practice started.
The Bond Mark on Tom was barely visible today, indicating that his best friend was far away, most likely still in the hospital. Gary couldn’t imagine how worried his parents must have been after being notified that their boy had been assaulted to that degree.
Then there was Gil. The Mark from their Forced Bond was also very weak, so it seemed as if he hadn’t attended school as well. If he were to wager a guess, the bully was also in a hospital, though Gary hoped it wasn’t the same one as Tom’s.
Gary didn’t want to see his face so soon again anyway. The only one whose mist had been very noticeable ever since he had entered the school ground was Barry’s. Gary knew that he had been there when Tom had been bullied, so he intended to pay him back.
——
Eventually, it was time for rugby practice. Gary turned up and people were actually pleased to see him, most noticeably Mr Root and Blake. The latter came up to Gary and gave him a friendly shake and a pull in. It was something that Gary had only seen people who were very close with each other.
It wasn’t quite a shake, nor was it a hug at the same time. To say the least Gary found it a little awkward.
“What was that?” Gary asked.
“The two of us went through that crap with Eton High together and honestly I’ve been thinking about that day for a while now. Without you, I could have seriously gotten hurt, it might have even ruined my entire rugby career. And I see you’re getting better at rugby by the day. I think it will be good if the two of us stay close together.”
Before, when interacting with Blake, Gary had shrugged him off, and he was only starting to realise now it was because he had been… jealous. With how perfect Blake was, it had only highlighted how imperfect Gary had been. However, now that those on the rugby team had started to accept him, he was realising that Blake was just a nice guy.
Not everyone was happy to see Gary though. When he saw him and Blake exchange their greeting, Barry’s eyebrows furrowed. The strange thing was that Gary seemed to notice it and turned his head around, though Barry looked away, as if avoiding the death stare.
“Are any of the team members still causing you problems?” Blake asked, noting the change in Gary’s mood. For a second he considered whether confiding in the helpful athlete, but ultimately decided against it. Even if Blake had some power to punish the duo who had done that to Tom, most likely by getting them kicked off the team, that wouldn’t satisfy the anger that was inside of Gary.
“Thanks for the offer, but it’s okay, it’s nothing that I can’t deal with.” Gary shook his head, walking past Blake, not even looking at him again, but just staring at one person.
Rugby practice that day was probably the worst performance Gary had ever put on since he had become a werewolf. The main reason for that was his Energy problem. With no reliable way to replenish it, he hadn’t used Charging Heart even once and he was trying to conserve his Energy as best as he could, which translated poorly for his team.
He might have gotten into trouble, but as it turned out he wasn’t the only one who was performing subpar. Barry had messed up catching the ball as it was thrown to him a couple of times in a pass, thumbling and allowing it to fall to the ground.
After yelling at them all a couple of times, Mr Root decided to call off the practice early today, in hopes that maybe some rest would do them some good. He hoped that by that time Gil might be back as well. As the others left the field, Gary turned around to stare at Barry again, causing him to flinch.
‘Damn it, I can’t concentrate on the practice match at all today, and it’s all because of him! Gil…he was in the hospital and he was badly beaten. I can’t prove it, but it just has to have been him! He might not look that part, but after what he did to Steven it’s clear that he’s hiding a few things. I knew we shouldn’t have messed with his friend, and look what’s happened now.’
‘The way he’s looking at me, I just know he’s going to come after me next.’ Barry thought.
Eventually, everyone ended up going to the locker room, and were happily getting changed, but for Barry, he had yet to open his locker to change out of his rugby uniform. His hand went to open it, but it was visibly shaking.
‘That stare… I can tell, he’s…he’s going to kill me! If it wasn’t for the guy saving Gil from his assailant, Gary would have surely killed him! I can’t let it end like that!’ Barry thought, as he opened up the locker, and inside there was a four inch kitchen knife he had brought with him from home.
‘He can’t kill me, if he’s dead!’
******
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